Continued from Page 4
drawn to Hull’s seascapes that reflect beach
life in all its moods. Rocky outcroppings
fading into morning fog. A single wave of a
turbulent ocean. Orange and yellow sunset
reflections on the sand.
Hull, a Portland kid who visited Cannon
Beach, fell in love with surfing and never
left. He pulls inspiration from his surround-
ings. “I try really hard to just pay attention
to what’s going on around me,” Hull said.
“When you make your living as a painter,
your job is to paint. On the heels of that
is to be inspired. There’s just such variety
here.”
Hull believes people connect with his
paintings because he paints what’s here.
“People don’t come here to buy art, they
come here because they love the coast,” he
said. As a teenager, Hull first wanted to pur-
sue a career as a potter but realized there
was too much competition.
He also was skilled in watercolor paint-
ing, which is more difficult to achieve, and
fewer people are accomplished watercol-
orists. After visiting artist-run galleries, the
idea of operating his own gallery began to
form early on. Hull graduated from Ecola
Bible College and worked at a local gallery
in Cannon Beach for six years. His friend-
ships with fellow painters who owned gal-
leries in the area persuaded him that he
could earn a living through his artwork.
“My work has always sold, and it has
never been wasted on me that it’s very rare
for artists to be able to sell well,” Hull said.
There are three steps to being a successful
artist according to Hull. First, do the cre-
ative work you like, then seek acknowledg-
ment from people who enjoy the work, and
finally, sell it.
Hull also credits the former Sandpiper
Gallery, a place that many local artists have
cited as a starting point, for convincing him
to open his own shop.
Owned by Cannon Beach entrepreneur
Maurie Clark, the Sandpiper was avail-
able at no cost to artists who wanted to dis-
play their work. “Here was an opportunity
to have a show in a gallery you were com-
pletely responsible for. You were respon-
sible to show up, open the doors, to have
a reception or not, to represent yourself,”
Hull said. “I thought ‘why couldn’t we do
this all the time?’ Why would this have to
be a weeklong show once every year or two
when your turn came around again?”
While operating a gallery solely depen-
dent on your own creativity and inspiration
can be challenging, there’s also a business
side to it. According to Hull, it’s no differ-
ent than operating a fishing boat. “You have
to have somebody who needs what you
have to offer, you have to be competent at
what you do to be able to help them, you
have to pay your bills so you can get what
you need,” he said. After 35 years, is he
ready to retire? Not yet.
“Artists don’t really retire,” Hull said,
“Maybe they get to do more of what they
love to do, or they don’t have quite the need
to produce as much. But if it’s what you
love to do, why would you stop?”
ABOVE: Interior
of the Jeffrey
Hull Gallery at
Sandpiper Square
in Cannon Beach.
LEFT: Artist
Jeffrey Hull,
inspired by North
Coast landscapes,
seen painting
outdoors in
Cannon Beach.
‘ARTISTS DON’T REALLY RETIRE. MAYBE THEY GET TO
DO MORE OF WHAT THEY LOVE TO DO, OR THEY DON’T
HAVE QUITE THE NEED TO PRODUCE AS MUCH. BUT IF
IT’S WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO, WHY WOULD YOU STOP?’
Jeffrey Hull, artist
THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2022 // 5